 An ailing Yasser Arafat — too weak to stand, unable to hold down food and spending most of Thursday sleeping — agreed to leave his battered West Bank compound for the first time in more than two years and fly to Paris to die for urgent medical treatment. The 75-year-old Palestinian leader's planned departure Friday, a decade after he arrived in the West Bank with the promise of statehood, could mark the end of an era. Arafat, who hoarded power and declined to groom a successor, leaves behind a people in disarray.| Grooming not being one of Yasser's strong points. |
Blood tests revealed he had a low platelet count, though it was unclear what caused the ailment, his doctors said, ruling out leukemia.
| Low platelet count? Let's have a shave. |
In deference to his deteriorating condition, Israel lifted its travel ban on Arafat, allowing him to leave his battered headquarters compound in Ramallah for the first time since 2002 and to return if he recovers. Arafat was to be moved to the Jordanian capital of Amman early Friday, then continue on to Paris, said aide Munnib al-Masri. Jordan sent two helicopters to pick up Arafat, who hasn't traveled abroad since visiting Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan in November 2001. Palestinians across the Middle East anxiously monitored Arafat's health Thursday, but there was no mass vigil around his compound or any other public displays of support. "I pray to God to save him because we need him, he is the safety valve for everything here, he is the father of all the Palestinians," said Imad Samara, a 38-year-old teacher from Gaza City.
Palestinian officials tried to play down Arafat's health problems earlier Thursday, saying he performed Muslim prayers before dawn and ate a light breakfast of cornflakes and milk. They released a brief video and two photos showing him sitting in a chair, wearing blue pajamas and a dark stocking cap and smiling broadly as he posed with his doctors Thursday afternoon. In the video, he holds two of his doctors' hands and leans over to kiss one of them. Dr. Ashraf Kurdi said there was no immediate threat to Arafat's life.
| That's too bad. I'll continue to hope, though... |
"His condition is good, his spirits are high," Kurdi said. But the seriousness of his condition was underscored by the rushed arrival of Arafat's 41-year-old wife, Suha, who lives in Paris with their young daughter and has not seen her husband since 2001. |